Friday, 16 August 2013

John McCain: US aid toEgypt 'should be cut off'When McCain says we should arm the Syrian rebels, he is dismissed as an outrider for American imperialism by those opposed to the Syrian revolution. Will the same people now dismiss the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood on the same basis? I think not.

Letter to John Baron MP"Behind the scenes at Newsnight, John Baron MP said to me, “If you put your emotions aside, for the sake of containment, wouldn’t it be better if Assad won?”Ramifications for Britain and Europe include all those pertaining to a zone of economic collapse and trauma on the eastern Mediterranean, all the unforeseeable knock-on effects, including at very least a new illegal migration issue and a pool of new recruits for violent political/religious organisations.

This is very unlike Iraq and Afghanistan. Nobody is asking for invasion or occupation, not for a single dead British soldier. Neither of those two occupations came at a time of mass popular revolution. Moderate Syrians are asking for the means to bring this to a conclusion themselves, to stop a genocide, a mass torture campaign, a mass rape campaign. Nobody is pretending at this late stage that the next day will be easy."

Thursday, 15 August 2013

HIS DEATH AND HER ANGUISH ARE WORTH AN ENTIRE REVOLUTION IN ITSELF. Deir Ezzor: aug 14, 2013 - Osama Saba’a Jaj Hamidi is just 7 years old. He was outside on the street when a shell fired by Assad’s forces landed and a shard of shrapnel pierced his chest and went into his heart.The shrapnel did not only pierce his heart, it pierced his mothers heart too. She lay on the floor clutching her son. She can’t bear to let him go. You do not need to understand Arabic in order to understand her anguish, her sadness, her anger, her despair at losing her child to a dictator that is hell-bent on murdering every child in Syria out of spite for the “audacity” of people of Syria to dare demand freedom.[http://www.therevoltingsyrian.com/…/his-death-and-her-angui…]

Syria’s Economic CrisisMagnifies Human Tragedy"The financial support from Russia is not in the form of aid, but loans. This is not expected to continue, at least at the same pace, in light of the threat on the regime and its ability to survive."

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

'The media image of the liberated areas suggests the regime has been replaced by heavy-handed militias. At least in Idlib province (Aleppo has suffered much more from thuggery, corruption and Islamist fanaticism, a fact much lamented by the activists and fighters I spoke to), it is not like that at all. No checkpoint stopped us. The men with guns were locals and were considered protectors, not oppressors.

Many men have fought. They fight for a while, then take time off to visit their families in the camps or to harvest the fields (those that haven't been burned). Most have no political aim other than defending themselves by ending the regime. Some are Islamists, usually moderate and democratic. One such is Abu Abdullah who, before his leg injury, fought with the rebel group Liwa al-Islam in Douma in the Damascus suburbs. He shocked me with his statement: "We aren't fighting for freedom, but for Islam." But the follow-up was more reassuring. "Europe," he said, "is implementing Islam without being aware of it. It educates its people, it respects their rights, there's one law for all."

This is an Islamist who shakes hands with unveiled women and opines that Christians often have more self-respect than Muslims. He doesn't fight for "freedom" because to him the word means people doing anything they like, regardless of the rights of others. His vision of an Islamic state is one compatible with democracy; it wouldn't enforce dress codes or ideological allegiances because (he quotes the Qur'an) "there is no compulsion in religion".

As for the foreign fighters, Abu Abdullah, like everybody I spoke to, views them with disdain. Syria has enough men, he told me. Syria needs weapons, not men. Foreigners only cause problems. They increase the sectarian element, as Assad and Iran want. They ruin the revolution's reputation. In any case, most of them aren't fighting but resting, waiting for "the next stage".'

Tuesday, 13 August 2013

From April 2012.
"Our business is making sure that whatever decisions Syrians make about the future of their country, they make it without the interference of the Great Powers."So John Rees has spent the last 16 months campaigning against the arms traffic from the Great Power Russia to the dictator in Syria. No, not really.

Yemen: The real reason forObama's terrorist scaremongeringChris Nineham is a pro-Assad scaremonger*. It is certainly liberation for those who cannot now be bombed."It is becoming clear from Syria that Tuesday's 'liberation' from Assad forces by rebels of an airbase in Idlib Province, co-ordinated partly by the US-backed Syrian Military Council, had foreign and Syrian based Al-Qaeda affiliates at its heart. In the words of one US analyst, this is a further sign that 'Al-Qaeda is dominating anti-Assad forces'."*Which may be the worst kind of monger.[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/10233226/Alan-Partridge-Alpha-…]

Monday, 12 August 2013

Revealed: What the West has given Syria's rebelsMark Little was talking rubbish about this on the Wright Stuff this morning. "The worry is that they'll get the hands of jihadis". But it doesn't include any weapons. "Yeah, but I'm sure they'll slip a couple of drones in there. It's all so convoluted, Arab Spring, it's got out of the CIA's hands."

'Nasri is an outspoken supporter of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad."From the beginning, I stood alongside the Syrian revolution, alongside the educated Syrians, nationalist, civilized and moderate youths and their goal of having a civil and democratic state," Nasri said on Sunday.'[http://music.yahoo.com/…/anti-assad-syrian-star-performs-we…]

Sunday, 11 August 2013

Israel Warns Russia Against Giving Syria Missiles (wat A Comedy)This was always a put-up job, to frighten the US off arming the rebels, and the Western public off the belief that anything could be done to stop the killing. Smuthx: "Series of events that may occur here. International politics is like a chess game.1. Russia may or will sell the S-300 mobile surface to air missiles to Syria.2. Syria will play the hundred thousands of US dollars to Russia.3. Some Russian military personnel will accompany the shipments of the missiles to ensure operation and teach the Syrians how its used.4. USA and Israel meets the Russian president and his defence team.5. After discussions and backroom deals.6. The Russians will give the coordinates of the missiles where its stored in Syria.7. The Russia military personnel will leave the target in time for the Israeli war machines to target and blast the storage buildings to ashes and destroyed.8. Russia will issue some statements and within some weeks, Russia will tune down the warnings and it will fade away.The Russia will win, they have gotten the money. and they will have gotten some backroom deals.Russia may not even sell those surface to air missiles. Its politics and its their trump card The Russians may not use."